Modern American Snipers

Most people think of snipers as shooters perched in urban hides, dealing out death unseen from a considerable distance. But this description barely scratches the surface. Special operations snipers are men with stacked skill sets who have the ability to turn the tide of battles, even when they aren't pulling the trigger. Snipers have played an outsized role in the War on Terror that has earned them the Medal of Honor, Navy Cross, and countless other honors.

Shooter: The Autobiography of the Top-Ranked Marine Sniper

Now Coughlin has written a highly personal story about his deadly craft, taking readers deep inside an invisible society that is off-limits to outsiders. This is not a heroic battlefield memoir but the careful study of an exceptional man who must keep his sanity while carrying forward one of the deadliest legacies in the U.S. military today.

The Last Punisher: A SEAL Team Three Sniper's True Account of the Battle of Ramadi

The Last Punisher is a bold, no-holds-barred first-person account of the Iraq War. With wry humor and moving testimony, Kevin Lacz tells the story of his tour in Iraq with SEAL Team Three, the warrior elite of the navy. This legendary unit, known as The Punishers, included Chris Kyle (American Sniper), Mike Monsoor, Ryan Job, and Marc Lee. These brave men were instrumental in securing the key locations in the pivotal 2006 Battle of Ramadi, told with stunning detail in this book.

The unforgiving Afghan winter settled upon the 22 men of Marine Special Operations Team 8222, call sign Dagger 22, in the remote and hostile river valley of Bala Murghab, Afghanistan. The Taliban fighters in the region would have liked nothing more than to once again go dormant and rest until the new spring fighting season began. No chance of that - this winter would be different.

The Reaper: Autobiography of One of the Deadliest Special Ops Snipers

In the best-selling tradition of American Sniper and Shooter, Irving shares the true story of his extraordinary career, including his deployment to Afghanistan in the summer of 2009, when he set another record, this time for enemy kills on a single deployment. His teammates and chain of command labeled him "The Reaper," and his actions on the battlefield became the stuff of legend, culminating in an extraordinary face-off against an enemy sniper known simply as The Chechnian.

Ghost Sniper: A Sniper Elite Novel

Bob Pope, the director of an American secret intelligence antiterrorist program, loses contact with his most trusted operative, navy master chief Gil Shannon, fearing him dead when a mission to take out a Swiss banker who is channeling funds to Muslim extremists goes awry. But when an American politician and her convoy are assassinated in Mexico City by the Ghost Sniper - an American ex-military gunman for hire employed by Mexico's most ruthless drug cartel - Pope must turn to retired Navy SEAL Daniel Crosswhite and the newest Sniper Elite hero.

Way of the Reaper: My Greatest Untold Missions and the Art of Being a Sniper

Way of the Reaper is a step-by-step accounting of how a sniper works, through the lens of Irving's 10 most significant kills - none of which have been told before. Each mission is an in-depth look at a new element of eliminating the enemy, from intel to luck, recon to weaponry. Told in a thrilling narrative, this is also a heart-pounding true story of some of the Reaper's boldest missions, including the longest shot of his military career on a human target of over half a mile.

Violence of Action is much more than the true, first-person accounts of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the Global War on Terror. Within this audio are the heartfelt, firsthand accounts from and about the men who lived, fought, and died for their country, their regiment, and each other. Objective Rhino, Haditha Dam, recovering Jessica Lynch, the hunt for Zarqawi, the recovery of Extortion 17, and everything in between...

Pale Horse is the remarkable never-before-told true story of an army aviation task force during combat in the Afghan War, told by the commanding officer who was there. Set in the very valleys where the attacks of 9/11 were conceived and where 10 Medals of Honor have been earned since that fateful day the war began, the narrative races from ferocious firefights and bravery in battle to the quiet moments where the courageous men and women of Task Force Pale Horse catch their breath before they take to the skies again.

Good to Go: The Life and times of a Decorated Member of the U.S. Navy's Elite Seal Team Two

Good to Go is Constance's powerful, firsthand account of his three tours of duty as a member of America's most elite, razor-sharp stealth fighting force. It is a breathtaking memoir of harrowing missions and covert special-ops - from the floodplains of the Mekong Delta to the beaches of the South China Sea - that places the listener in the center of bloody ambushes and devastating firefights. But Constance's extraordinary adventure goes even farther - beyond 'Nam.

Level Zero Heroes: The Story of U.S. Marine Special Operations in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan

Michael Golembesky follows the members of U.S. Marine Special Operations Team 8222 on their assignment to the remote and isolated Taliban stronghold known as Bala Murghab as they conduct special operations in an effort to break the Taliban’s grip on the Valley. What started out as a routine mission changed when two 82nd Airborne Paratroopers tragically drowned in the Bala Murghab River while trying to retrieve vital supplies from an air drop that had gone terribly wrong.

Delta Force: A Memoir by the Founder of the U.S. Military's Most Secretive Special-Operations Unit

Wanted: Volunteers for Project Delta. Will guarantee you a medal. A body bag. Or both. With this call to arms, Charlie Beckwith revolutionized American armed combat. Beckwith's acclaimed memoir tells the story of Delta Force as only its maverick creator could tell it - from the bloody baptism of Vietnam to the top-secret training grounds of North Carolina to political battles in the upper levels of the Pentagon itself. This is the heart-pounding, first-person insider's view of the missions that made Delta Force legendary.

Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor

In 2009 Clinton Romesha of Red Platoon and the rest of the Black Knight Troop were preparing to shut down Command Outpost Keating, the most remote and inaccessible in a string of bases built by the US military in Nuristan and Kunar in the hope of preventing Taliban insurgents from moving freely back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Three years after Keating's construction, the army was finally ready to concede what the men on the ground had known immediately: It was simply too isolated and too dangerous to defend.

Dead Center: A Marine Sniper's Two-Year Odyssey in the Vietnam War

Raw, straightforward, and powerful, Ed Kugler's account of his two years as a Marine scout-sniper in Vietnam vividly captures his experiences there - the good, the bad, and the ugly. After enlisting in the Marines at 17, then being wounded in Santo Domingo during the Dominican crisis, Kugler arrived in Vietnam in early 1966. As a new sniper with the 4th Marines, Kugler picked up bush skills while attached to 3d Force Recon Company, and then joined the grunts.

Silent Warrior: The Marine Sniper's Vietnam Story Continues

In the U.S. Marine Corps, the most dangerous job in combat is that of the sniper. With no backup and little communication with the outside world, these men disappear for weeks on end in the wilderness with nothing but intellect and iron will to protect them - as they watch, wait, and finally strike. But of all of the snipers who ever hunted human prey, one man stands above the rest as the most legendary fighting man to ever pull a trigger. That man is Carlos Hathcock.

Hammerhead Six: How Green Berets Waged an Unconventional War Against the Taliban to Win in Afghanistan's Deadly Pech Valley

In 2003, the Special Forces soldiers entered an area later called "the most dangerous place in Afghanistan". Here, where the line between civilians and armed zealots was indistinct, they illustrated the Afghan proverb "I destroy my enemy by making him my friend." Fry recounts how they were seen as welcome guests rather than invaders. Soon after their deployment ended, the Pech Valley reverted to turmoil. Their success was never replicated.

Situation Room: A Luke Stone Thriller, Book 3

A cyberattack on an obscure US dam leaves thousands dead and the government wondering who attacked it, and why. When they realize it is just the tip of the iceberg - and that the safety of all of America is at stake - the president has no choice but to call in Luke Stone.

Among Heroes: A U.S. Navy SEAL's True Story of Friendship, Heroism, and the Ultimate Sacrifice

From Brandon Webb, Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times best-selling author, comes his account of the eight friends and fellow SEALs who made the ultimate sacrifice. As a Navy SEAL, Webb rose to the top of the world's most elite sniper corps, experiencing years of punishing training and combat missions from the Persian Gulf to Afghanistan. Along the way, Webb served beside, trained, and supported men he came to know not just as fellow warriors, but as friends and, eventually, as heroes.

Eyes on Target: Inside Stories from the Brotherhood of the U.S. Navy SEALs

Told through the eyes of current and former Navy SEALs, Eyes on Target is an inside account of some of the most harrowing missions in American history-including the mission to kill Osama bin Laden and the mission that wasn't, the deadly attack on the US diplomatic outpost in Benghazi where a retired SEAL sniper with a small team held off one hundred terrorists while his repeated radio calls for help went unheeded.

Gray Work: Confessions of an American Paramilitary Spy

In this unprecedented audiobook, a paramilitary contractor with more than two decades of experience gives us a firsthand look into the secret lives of America's private warriors and their highly covert work around the world. Author Jamie Smith has planned and executed hundreds of missions on behalf of government agencies and private industry in some of the world's most dangerous hot spots - and lived to tell the tale.

House to House: An Epic Memoir of War

In one of the most compelling combat narratives ever written, Staff Sergeant David Bellavia, an Army infantry platoon leader in Iraq, gives a teeth-rattling, first-hand account of 11 straight days of heavy house-to-house fighting during the climactic second battle of Fallujah. His actions in the firefight, which included killing five insurgents in hand-to-hand combat, earned Bellavia the Bronze Star, the Silver Star, and New York state's highest military honor, the Conspicuous Service Cross.

Zero Footprint: The True Story of a Private Military Contractor's Covert Assignments in Syria, Libya, and the World's Most Dangerous Places

Armored cars, burner phones, top-notch weaponry, and top-secret missions - this is the life of today's private military contractor. Like author Simon Chase, many PMCs were once the world's top military operatives, and since retiring from outfits like US Navy SEAL TEAM Six and the UK's Special Boat Service, they have devoted their lives to executing missions too sensitive for the government to acknowledge. Chase reveals here for the first time the operations too hazardous and politically volatile to be officially sanctioned by his employers.

Roughneck Nine-One: The Extraordinary Story of a Special Forces A-Team at War

On April 6, 2003, 26 Green Berets, including those of Sergeant First Class Frank Antenori's Special Forces A-Team (call sign Roughneck Nine One), fought a vastly superior force at a remote crossroads near the village of Debecka, Iraq. The enemy unit had battle tanks and 150 well-trained, well-equipped, and well-commanded soldiers. The Green Berets stopped the enemy advance, then fought them until only a handful of Iraqi survivors finally fled the battlefield.

Publisher's Summary

Retired Marine sniper Jack Coughlin and John Bruning pull back the curtain of secrecy to take an insider's look at the dark and misunderstood world of America's sniper force. Long considered the redheaded stepchildren of the infantry, snipers have been loathed by their fellow warriors, called "ten cent killers" by our media, and portrayed as unbalanced psychopaths by Hollywood. Coughlin and Bruning explore the lives and careers of some of America's most effective snipers during key missions, moments, and campaigns in the War on Terror. Part pause-register thriller, part deeply human drama, Shock Factor takes you from the streets of the modern day "Stalingrad" of Ramadi to the skyscrapers of Baghdad as America's one-shot warriors fight desperate battles against all odds, find themselves at the heart of tense international incidents, stalk key enemy leaders, and discover horrific human rights abuses perpetrated by our own Allies. Based on extensive interviews with snipers currently on active duty, Shock Factor's gripping accounts of harrowing combat, buried truths and secrets revealed could only be told by snipers to a trusted member of their own elite and cloistered brotherhood. Gunnery Sgt. Jack Coughlin is the New York Times best-selling author of the autobiography, Shooter (with Donald A. Davis). He served with the Marines during the drive to Baghdad and has operated on a wide range of assignments in hot spots around the world. John R. Bruning is the author or coauthor of 15 nonfiction books. He received the Thomas Jefferson Award for Journalism for an article he wrote while embedded with the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade in Afghanistan.

I wouldn't recommend this book as the first one about snipers or the capture of Ramadi. Perhaps after one or two others to augment encounters. I went through this n finished it the day ISIS captured Ramadi. Makes me want to vomit. The story supports this book. I almost put it down n requested a refund several times. In the early part it bogged down with the rank identification of every GI each n every time they presented. Identification was by initials only, such as SPEC or SFC. Throughout the book there was mixing of terms, like kilo yards. Imperial n metric measurements just DON't GO TOGETHER.

This is an amazing book that gives you just a small glimpse into the reality our elite shooters live and fight through for us. It draws you in closer and closer with every chapter. By the end you are guaranteed to feel proud these warfighters are on our side!

Would you consider the audio edition of Shock Factor to be better than the print version?

I've never read the book before. However, the audio edition is definitely graphic when being descriptive. The narrator definitely makes the reader feel the emotions, fear, pain and despair of the people who the Iraqi's give no value. Life is cheap and I could hear them laughing while the tortured men and women had their skin whipped from their backs, arms and legs. Evil, evil. evil. Maybe I should have read this book instead of listening to it. I can't change that now but if I ever recommend this book to another I would encourage they read instead of listen.

What did you like best about this story?

What I liked best about this memoir is how descriptive the authors were about when, where and why sniper's are needed. Sniper's have been used since 1815, during the Battle of New Orleans. Sniper's are also known as the messenger's of death. Sniper's could initiate the retreat of the insurgent's. The basic skills of the sniper are still the same since 1815. The continuation of maintaining training of sniper's didn't occur until after the Vietnam War. Therefore, if a conflict was on the horizon, sniper's will be prepared to go to war.

What does Tony Ward bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Tony Ward was an asset to the book, Shock Factor. He was able to keep my interest peeked while I listened. There are switches of voices during the book but the character's are usually of short duration. However, he was able to provide the listener with the variations which narrator's of this kind of book tend to maintain a constant voice throughout the book.That kind of narration can make listening a bet rough.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I have moments in this book that kept my interest but I can't use the word moved, to describe the moments. Sniper's from SEAL Teams 1, 3 and 5 fought a very tough battle in Ramadi against the Iraqi's. Knowing that there is no man left behind makes me say, thank you to all of the men and women who are fighting to maintain America's freedom.There is no draft making these men and women serve their country.

The police of Iraq were seen torturing detainees who were dropped off in Iraq. They gave lessons to those men who had never tortured a person before. Rubber hoses, spreader bars, hands and feet tied and their eyes are covered. Evil, evil, evil

Any additional comments?

The American's learned that the Iraqi's were well trained. Towards the end of the battle the Iraqi's had to call in a small team of Afghan fighters. The sniper's from both sides were sniper shooting from building to building. However, while fighting, if the American's caused any destruction, the bills are sent to Uncle Sam to be paid. We wonder why taxes are so high and yet we still can't wipe the debt clean. The Iraqi's and Afghan's hate American's. Why don't we go home. They don't want us over there.

While the fight in Ramadi, which lasted approximately 4 days, continued, the Iraqi's refused to be intimidated. They continued to harass our sniper's. However, there were 2 SEALs who remained on the top on one of the buildings roof and continued to kill Iraqi's avenging the killing of their brother's. There was payback that needed to be meted out. The sniper's found Mohammed, who might have been the next leader of Iraq, with 2 other insurgent's who had killed 2 sniper SEALs. There was also another fight where 2 SEALs were injured and 1 SEAL was captured. The SEALs found their brother in 3 days. He had been tortured by the insurgents. The SEALs found the Iraqi's and wrought their pay back on them. They were, "dead men walking."

Three well known sniper's fought in the battle, Chris Kyle, Lutrell and Tyson. Their bullets flew. The American's know Kyle as, The Legend and the Iraqi's know him as, The Devil.The Rules of Engagement wrought anger among the US sniper's. A sniper had to call his CO and report the situation as to why someone was to be shot and there were times that a sniper would be told to, "stand down." The War on Terror has its own set of rules.The Iraqi's know how to use those rules to their advantage. Men, from the age of 18 and up are fighting this dam war, yet they can't make their own decisions. The CO's aren't on the battlefield, they are not aware of what's occurring.

The American's had to drop a maverick bomb, which doesn't cause too much destruction on a building which contained the last small group of insurgent's. The few that remained after the battle of Ramadi, faded into the background. Finally, the American's could leave Iraq because the Iraqi's were able to maintain their own government. I'll bet you ten bucks how long this government would last. How many believe that the Iraqi's would be able to remain stable? Yup, what's happening in Iraq as I write this review?

Hey brother, don't worry, we'll get them another day. Slow is smooth and smooth is slow.

This Book is a Treatise on the History & Modern Applications of Sniping.It covers the reasons Snipers have become our Top "on the Ground" Force Multipliers in the Asymmetrical Warfare The U.S. Military is using to Defend Freedom.